Towing arrangement for transportation of surfboards and their riders



3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

JITTM/VFYS.

ST. CYR

N. TOWING ARRANGEMENT FOR TRANSPORTATION OF SURFBOARDS AND THEIR RIDERSDec. 30. 1969 Flled June 14 1967 Dec. 30. 1969 N. sT. CYR 3,486,463

TOWING ARRANGEMENT FOR TRANSPORTATIGN OF' SURFBOARDS AND THEIR RIDERSFiled June 14, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Dec. 3o. 1969 A NQ ST. CYR 3,486,463

TOWING ARRANGEMENT FOR TRANSPORTATION OF SURFBOARDS AND THER RIDERS 3Sheets-Shee'l 3 Filed June 14, 196'? INVENTOR.

; V BY United States Patent 3,486,463 TOWING ARRANGEMENT FOR TRANSPORTA-TION OF SURFBOARDS AND THEIR RIDERS Napoleon St. Cyr, 10 Overland Drive,Stratford, Conn. 06075 Filed June 14, 1967, Ser. No. 646,026

Int. Cl. B61c 11/02 U.S. Cl. 104-173 9 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSUREy A marine towing arrangement having a continuous over- *head cablemounted on support towers and a plurality of l spaced tow bars dependingfrom the cable to a point slight- 1y above the surface of the water at apointofembarkation and including apparatus for raising the tow bars ap-.preciably above the surface of the shore.

BACKGROUND 0F THE INVENTION the surf, from which=the riders may ridetheir boards back towards the shore upon the incoming surf.

Heretofore, to engage in the'sport of Surfboard riding or" l-surfing, arider was required to sit or lie upon the board i., and paddle throughand against the .incoming surf to a suitable offshore location beyondthe surf. Having reached thisv position he had to wait for a suitableswell upon which to ride toward the shore. Since paddling against thesurf coming congested. Therefore, as the sport of surfing in- @creasesin popularity many new adherents congest the beaches suitable forthis'sport. While it is true that there are many miles of coastline, thenumber of beaches suitablepfor surng is limited by their location withrespect to the submarinel topography and their relationship to off-Shore storms as l"well as by `restrictions imposed by vadja- -cent`municipalities. The overcrowding which results may gcause collisionsbetweenthoseisurfboard riders who are travelling to an offshore positionand those riders who are speeding toward shore on the incoming surf. Inthe absence of somesafeguard, the number of accidents will increase Myinvention will in part alleviate this dangerous situa- -tion by limitingthe area used by outward-bound riders. It

uwill'conne the outward-'bound trafc to atowing-arrangementwhich can belocatedat a remote .portion of the 'bleach andf which'includes acontinuous overhead cable from whichv depend tow bars for transportingthe riders. Furthermore, since the cable is located above the surface ofthe waterl it is quitevisible and incoming riders will be awarey of thisarea and will avoid it. y

Of course, the towing arrangement makes travelling to *the offshoreVlocation much easier than it has beenv hereto- '-fore. and vwill add tothe popularity of the sport.

Since the driving motor ofwmy invention must be located onshore, the towbars must pass over a portion of fthe beach, therefore, in order toallow traffic to pass unob- `structed along the beach as required bysome municipal and state regulations I have provided means for raisingthe ltowbars substantially above the surface of the beach. 'This raisingof tow bars also prevents the1r belng dragged My invention relates to anoverhead cable towing arf." yrangement for vtransporting surfboards andtheir riders from an onshore location to an offshore location, beyond inproportion vto the number of surfers crowding .the beach-y sembly areshown mounted;

g ice along the sandy surface of the beach which would otherwise causeaccumulation of sand on the depending tow bars and be irritating to theriders when in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a primary object of myinvention to provide a visible towing arrangement with a continuousoverhead cable and having plural spaced towing means vfor transportingsurfboards and their riders from the shore to an offshore location.

A further object is the provision of a towing arrangement designed to bepermanently constructed at a beach site, while not interfering withvehicular or other traffic along the beach.

A still further object is to construct such a towing arrangement withstandard structural hardware known to the ski tow manufacturingindustry.

The objects of this invention are achieved in one form by providing amarine towing system for transporting a Surfboard and rider from anonshore location to an offshore location comprising a continuous closedcable loop extending from above the onshore location to above theoffshore location; Xed means for supporting said continuous cable abovethe surface of the water; means secured to the cable at spaced intervalsfor transporting the surfboard and rider to the offshore location, thetransporting means extending from the cable to a point slightly abovethe surface of the water for being received by the Surfboard and rider;and means for raising the transporting means appreciably above thesurface of the shore for noninterference therewith.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects and further details ofthat which I believe to be novel and my invention will be clear from thefollowing descriptionand claims taken with the accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan View of one form of the overhead marine towingarrangement of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the marine towing arrangement ofFIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational View of an alternate form of the overlandportion of the towing arrangement, showing the tow bars in a raisedposition;

FIGA is a side elevational view of one of the tow bars shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is Ya rear elevational view of the tow bar shown in FIG. 4;

v FIG. 6 is a perspectiveview of oneof the supporting standards uponwhich a lifter assembly and a tripper as- FIG. 7 is a rear elevationalView ofl the tripper assembly;

FIG. 8 is a front elevational bly; f

FIG.` 9 isa-side elevational view of an alternate overview of the lifterassem- `headmarine towing arrangement having Surfboard and ridercarriers; and

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a Surfboard and rider carrier. l

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS l I have disclosed two towingarrangements comprehended by my invention, one illustrated in FIGS. 1-[8andthe other illustrated in FIGS. 9 and l0. Both arrangements include acontinuous movable overhead cable 1,0 which moves in a continuouscircuit o ver the surface of the water between a drive assembly 12located on the beach B and a terminal assembly 14 located at a suitableoffshore location. The cable 10 is supported upon spaced rollerassemblies 16 carried upon the upper ends of support towers 18. Thesestandard parts could be the same as utilized in the ski tow art andwould only need to be treated with special paints or other coatings forwithstanding the hostile effects of the sea and the sun.

The towing arrangements constructed in accordance with my inventionwould be site engineered, i.e. installed as dictated by the topographyof each beach and the characteristic surf. For example, the embodimentillustrated in FIGS. l-8 would be installed at those beaches where thesurf is generally not too heavy whereas the embodiment illustrated inFIGS. 9 and 10 would be installed at beaches having a heavy surfallowing the rider to be carried above the level of the water to theoffshore location.

With particular reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 there are shown the supporttowers 18 mounted in suitable pilings 20 anchored in the ocean floor Feach tower having a crossbar 22 at their uppermost ends for supportingthe roller assemblies 16. Continuous cable carried by the support towers18 is driven by the drive assembly 12 which comprises a motor 24, asuitable gear reduction unit 26, a drive shaft 28, and a drive wheel 30.The terminal assembly 14 at the otfshore location includes a bull ortension wheel 32 about which the cable 10 is trained for beingmaintained taut. The terminal assembly 14 is constructed of heavystructural beams 34 anchored in pilings 36 and supporting tracks 38 uponwhich a bull wheel mounting 40 may reciprocate. A tie cable 42 issecured to the bull wheel mounting 40` and passes over idler rollers 44and 46, supporting at its remote end a heavy tensioning weight 48 whichmay be made of concrete. Thus the bull wheel 32 is able to reciprocatealong the tracks 38 under the combined intluence of the weight 48 andthe riders for maintaining tension on the cable 10.

As can be clearly seen in FIG. 2, the Surfboard riders are towed fromthe onshore to the oshore locations by grasping the moving tow bars,indicated generally by the numeral 50, which depend from the cable 10 atspaced intervals. The Surfboard riders may lie upon their boards, asshown, and grasp tag lines 52 which extend from the lower end of the towbars 50.

The tow bar constructions are shown in greater detail in FIGS. 4 and 5.Each consists of a usual sleeve 54, which may be clamped upon the cable10` in a known manner as by use of bands 56 and to which is secured adepending hanger rod 58. The hanger rod 58 carries a hanger plate 60 atits lower end which is welded thereto or secured in some other suitablemanner. The hanger plate 60 carries a tow rod 62 mounted for rotationabout a pivot pin 64 secured to the plate and further includes a pin 66secured thereto upon which one end of a tension spring 68 may beanchored, the other end of the spring being anchored to an eye 70secured to the tow rod 62. A detent 72 whose function will becomeapparent is struck from the wall of the hanger plate and provides a seatfor the tow rod 62 in its raised position.

The tow rod 62 constructed in accordance with my invention is generallyZ-shaped for allowing the center of gravity of the rider to besubstantially directly below the cable 10 and carries a tag line 52secured to its lower end. The upper end of the rod 62 comprises a pivotblock 74 through which the pivot pin 64 passes and may include a stubshaft 76 for being inserted into a heavy tension spring 78 and securedtherein in any suitable manner as by welding. The lower end of thespring 78 similarly captures a stub shaft 80 secured in the tubularZ-shaped rod having a knee 81. Due to this construction, the tow rod 62may move slightly laterally of the axis of the cable 10 as well aslongitudinally parallel thereto for absorbing the shock of the wavesthrough which the Surfboard and rider are being transported.

As mentioned above, it is desirable to lift the tow rod 62 from itsdepending position as the tow bar assembly 50 approaches the beach. Forthis purpose I have devised a novel lifter assembly 82. In order tolower the tow rod 62 to its normally depending position immediatelyprior to its outward run, I have devised a novel tripper assembly 84.The assemblies 82 and 84 may be secured to diierent support towers 18 asdesired for best results. They are shown in detail in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8as being mounted upon a single support tower, but it should of course beunderstood that these assemblies may be mounted upon different towers ifso desired. For example, it may be desired to mount the lifter -assembly82 upon a support tower 18 adjacent the offshore location so as toprevent the tag line from being dragged through the water on its returntrip.

The lifter assembly 82 comprises a support frame 86 constructed oftubular steel or other suitable material secured at one end to the tower18 and which supports at its other end a ramp 88. As the cable 10 movestoward the beach, the ramp interferes with the knee 81, causing the towrod 62 to rotate about the pivot pin 64 and to be seated on the detent72 against the bias of the tension spring 68 as shown in dot-dash linesin FIG. 4.

The tow rod 62 moves toward the beach in its raised position and as itturns at the drive assembly 12 the hanging tag line 52 passes through atrough 89 which prevents the tag line from becoming tangled in the motor24 or gears 26. Immediately before the embarkation station it is desiredto trip the tow rods 62 to cause them to return to their normallydepending position. This is accomplished by means of the tripperassembly 84 which comprises a support frame also constructed of tubularstock secured at one end to the tower 18 and at its other end carrying aplow 92 for cooperating with the knee 81 to urge it outwardly, and oithe detent 72. As this outward force would normally tend to urge theentire tow bar assembly 50 outwardly and would not achieve its purposeof removing the tow rod 62 from its seat, I have provided an L-shapedback-up plate 94 which is also mounted upon the outer end of the supportframe 90 for maintaining the hanger plate 60 immovable with respect tothe cable 10. When the back up plate 94 and the plow 92 cooperate totrip the tow rod 62 it is returned to its depending position, wherebythe tag line may be grasped by the Surfboard rider at the point ofembarkation.

In FIG. 3 there is illustrated an alternate modification of the towingarrangement in which the cable 10 passes over the beach and passes abouta drive assembly 30 which is located in a suitable housing 96. It can beclearly seen that the tow rods 62 are sufliciently high above the beachB to allow vehicular traic to pass therebeneath.

This embodiment also illustrates the desirability of providing acomplete and permanent shelter for the drive assembly 12.

My invention also comprehends a towing arrangement (FIGS. 9 .and 10)which may be best utilized at beaches having a heavier surf. Thisembodiment comprehends carrying the Surfboard and rider above thesurface of the water. I have designated similar parts with similarnumerals with a prime added. This arrangement may be constructed withsimilar standard hardware, including a cable 10', support towers 18', adrive assembly 12', and a terminal assembly (not shown). However, thisarrangement is constructed with substantially higher support towers 18over both the onshore and substantially all of the oifshore path oftravel. In this manner the tow bar assemblies 50 ride high above thebeach B and the water. It is readily observable that shorter supporttowers 18 are provided at the loading and unloading stations forallowing the riders to mount and to dismount the tow bars 50. A typicalloading station, comprehended by my invention, is shown in FIG. 9 andincludes two adjacent support towers 18 having hold-down rollerassemblies 98 for maintaining the cable 10 and the tow bars 50 near thesurface of the water.

A tow bar assembly 50 of this design as illustrated in FIG. 10 isuniquely constructed and comprises a hanger 100 which is secured to thecable 10' by means of a sleeve 54' and to which is secured a plate 102.A second plate 103 is secured to the first plate by means of a centralpivot pin 104 and forms therewith a swivel plate assembly 105. Thesecond plate 103 supports a depending carrier frame 106 made of tubularstock, such as steel pipe. The carrier frame 106 comprises a verticalrod 108 at whose lowermost point is secured, as by welding, asubstantially normal horizontal rod 110 which extends forwardly from thevertical rod in the direction of travel. At the junction of thehorizontal and vertical rods there is secured a U-shaped member 112 andat the forwardmost end of the rod 110 there is secured another U-shapedmember 114. The carrier frame 106 is suitably braced for structuralstrength by members 116 and 118 and may support a Surfboard and rider asshown. A small seat 120 which may be made of wood or plastic may besecured upon the U-shaped member 110 for allowing a rider to becomfortably seated as he is being carried to the offshore location. Withthe board properly mounted in position in both U-,shaped members, thefin f abutts the forward U-shaped member 114 and is held in place by therider. When the rider reaches the offshore location the cable is againlowered to .a point nearer the water and the rider may jump into thewater with his board or may disembark upon a suitable platform providedtherefor. The swivel plate assembly 105 allows the board to be carriedsubstantially parallel to the surface of the water over the inclinedsections of cable travel adjacent the embarkation and disembarkationstation.

Thus, it is readily observable that in both embodiments of my invention,the tow bar assemblies 50 and 50 are substantially raised above thebeach so as not to obstruct traffic along the beach, and the tow barassemblies are brought to a position adjacent the vsurface of the waterfor allowing the rider to embark.

Having described my invention of a towing arrangement for transportingsurfboards and their riders from an onshore location to an offshorelocation, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in this artthat a towing arrangement embodying my invention is both simple andflexible in design, low in cost and ingenious in operation. Reliabilityof operation and safety were of primary concern, although ease ofassembly and minimum cost of manufacture were also importantconsiderations that are solved by this invention.

It should be understood that the present disclosure has been made by wayof example and that numerous changes in details of construction yand thecombination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the true spirit of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A marine towing system for transporting a surfboard and rider from anonshore location to an offshore location comprising: a continuous cableextending from above the onshore location to above theoifshore'location; plural spaced support towers for supporting saidcontinuous cable; plural means secured to said cable at spacedintervals, each comprising a retractable, normally depending member fortransporting a surfboard and a rider to the oshore location, saidtransporting means extending from said cable to a point slightly abovethe surface of the water for being received by the Surfboard and rider;a lifter assembly carried by one of said support towers for raising thetransporting means appreciably above the surface of the shore fornon-interference therewith; and tripping means carried by one of saidsupport towers for returning a raised transporting means to its normallydepending position.

2. A marine towing system for transporting a surfboard and rider from anonshore location to an offshore location comprising: a continuous cableextending from above the onshore location to above the offshorelocation; plural spaced Support towers for supporting said continuouscable; plural means secured to said cable at spaced intervals fortransporting a Surfboard and a rider to the offshore location, eachcomprising a hanger portion secured to said cable and a retractable towrod portion normally depending from and rotatably mounted .on saidhanger portion, said hanger portion including a plate having detentmeans for maintaining said tow rod portion in a raised position, saidtransporting means extending from said cable to a point slightly abovethe surface of the water for being received by the Surfboard and rider;and means for raising the transporting means appreciably above thesurface of the shore for non-interference therewith.

3. The towing systemA defined in claim 2 wherein said raising meansincludes a lifter assembly carried by one of said support towers, saidlifter assembly comprising a ramp which is positioned in the path oftravel of said tow rod portion for causing said tow rod portion to beraised to a position wherein it may be seated'upon said detent means.

4. The towing system defined in claim 2 further including: trippingmeans carried by one of said support towers for returning a raised towrod portion to its normally depending position, said tripping meanscomprising a plow which is positioned in the path of travel of a raisedtow rod portion for urging said tow rod portion off of said detentmeans; and resilient means connecting said plate and said tow rodportion for biasing said tow rod portion to a depending position,whereby said tow rod portion is substantially immediately returned toitsdepending position after being dislodged from its raised position uponsaid detent means.

5. A marine towing system for transporting a surfboard and rider from anonshore location to an offshore location comprising: a continuous cableextending from above the onshore location to above the offshorelocatlon; plural spaced support towers for 'supporting sald continuouscable; plural means secured to said cable at spaced intervals fortransporting a surfboard and a rider to the offshore location, eachcompnsing a hanger portion secured to said cable including a platehaving detent means, a retractable normally depending tow rod portionrotatably mounted on said hanger portion, and resilient means connectingsaid plate and sald tow rod portion for biasing said tow rod portionfrom a raised position wherein it is seated upon said detent means to anormally depending position, said transporting means extending from saidcable to a point slightly above the surface of the water for beingreceived by the Surfboard and rider; means for raising the transportingmeans appreciably above the surface of the shore for non-interferencetherewith including a lifter assembly earned by one of said supporttowers, said lifter assembly comprlsing a ramp which is positioned inthe path 0f travel of said tow rod portion to raise said tow rod portionto a position wherein it may be seated upon said detent means; andtripping means carried by one of said support towers for returning araised tow rod portion to ltsn'ormally depending position, said trippingmeans compr1s1ng a plow which is positioned in the path of travel o f araised tow rod portion for urging said tow rod portion off of saiddetent means, whereby said tow rod p0rtlon is substantially immediatelyreturned to its depending posltlon by said resilient means after beingdislodged from its raised position upon said detent means.

6. A marine towing system for transporting a surfboard and rider from anonshore location to an offshore location comprising: a continuous cableextending from above the onshore location to above the offshorelocation; p lural spaced support towers for supporting said continuouscable; plural means secured to said cable at spaced intervals fortransporting a Surfboard and a rider to the offshore location, saidtransporting means extendmg from said cable to a point slightly abovethe surface 7. of the water forbeing received by the Surfboard andrider; a plurality of support towers located adjacent to andr upon theshore which' are substantially higher than those support towers at ane'rnbarkation station; and saidv cable portion passingl above the shoredefining a high run which is substantially 'higher than the cable'portion passing above the embarkation station dening a low run, saidcable portion passing between said'high run and said low run beingangularly disposed with respect to each of-said runs. l

' 7; The towing' system dened in claim' 6 wherein said transporting'means' includes: a' carrier frame for supporting a Surfboard'V in asubstantially horizontal plane;l and a swivel plate assembly disposedbetween said cable and said carrier frame 'for allowing said carrierframe to remainv inthe horizontal plane over said angular run.

8. 'T he towing system dened in claim 7 wherein said carrier frameincludes a substantially vertical member, a substantially horizontalmember secured to the lower end of said lvertical member, and a forwardand rear U- shaped support secured to the respective ends of saidhorizontal member, said U-shaped members formed s'as to,`

, UNIIED'SIATESPAIENB. ,Y 3,052,470. 9/ 19162 ,Pomagalski 104-173 X3,338,180W8/1967 Stecker Q..- 104-173l 3,376,829 tzt/1,968; Hanok i104-173 'It :f lFOREIGN PATENTS v' 769,447 10,/1967 Capdag' 1,466,1961/1966 France;

1,351,766 v ,p3/196,3' France. I p

912,871 1 2/,1962 switzerland., y,lj

DRAYTON E. HOFFMAN, Primary VExaminer UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICECERTIFICATE OF. CORRECTION Patent No. 3,486,463 December 30, 1969Napoleon St. Cyr

It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent andthat said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 7, line 4, after "towers" insert located line 2l, after "support"insert member Signed and sealed this 28th day of July 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents

